Chewy Stock Struggles Despite Strong Business Outlook
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jun 03 2026
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Source: Fool
- Strong Performance: Despite Chewy's stock plummeting 50% over the past year and losing a third of its value in 2026, the company continues to forecast revenue growth of 8% to 9%, demonstrating its resilience and potential.
- Predictable Business Model: With 84% of sales coming from its autoship program and 85% from food and pet medications, Chewy has established a recession-resistant business model that ensures a steady revenue stream.
- Margin Expansion Goals: Chewy aims to increase its EBITDA margin from 5.7% in fiscal 2025 to 10% by leveraging automation and artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency, which is expected to drive future profitability.
- Undervalued Market Valuation: Despite Chewy's robust growth and highly recurring business model, its forward P/E ratio stands at just 13.7 times, highlighting its leadership position in the industry and future growth potential, especially when compared to the debt-laden Petco.
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Analyst Views on CHWY
Wall Street analysts forecast CHWY stock price to rise
20 Analyst Rating
17 Buy
3 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 19.980
Low
42.00
Averages
47.06
High
52.00
Current: 19.980
Low
42.00
Averages
47.06
High
52.00
About CHWY
Chewy, Inc. is an e-commerce business geared toward pet products and services. The Company’s products consist of pet food and treats, pet supplies and pet medications, other pet-health products, and pet services. It serves its customers through its retail websites, and its mobile applications and focuses on delivering customer service, competitive prices, convenience, including Chewy’s Autoship subscription program, and a range of pet food, treats and supplies, and pet healthcare products and services. It partners with approximately 3,200 of the brands in the pet industry, and it creates and offers its own private brands. It owns a number of trademark registrations and applications in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions. These trademarks include American Journey, Blue Box Event, Careplus, Chewy, Chewy.com, Chewy Vet Care, Dr. Lyon’s, Frisco, Goody Box, Onguard, PetMD, PracticeHub, Tiny Tiger, True Acre Farms, Tylee’s, Vibeful, and The Zoo.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
- Strong Sales Performance: Chewy's Q1 net sales grew by 7.7% year-over-year to approximately $3.6 billion, demonstrating the company's ability to maintain growth in a competitive market, which enhances investor confidence in its future performance.
- Customer Base Expansion: By the end of the quarter, Chewy had 21.5 million active customers, a 3.6% increase year-over-year, adding nearly 200,000 new customers, indicating effective strategies in customer acquisition and retention that further solidify its market position.
- Profitability Improvement: The adjusted EBITDA margin reached 7.5%, reflecting a year-over-year expansion of 130 basis points, showcasing the company's success in cost control and operational efficiency, which is expected to positively impact future profitability.
- Cautious Future Outlook: Chewy updated its fiscal 2026 net sales guidance to reflect expected growth between 6.3% and 7.5%, indicating a cautious stance towards the macroeconomic environment while also demonstrating the company's flexibility in responding to challenges.
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- Sales Growth: Chewy's Q1 sales increased by 7.7% year-over-year, demonstrating resilience in a challenging economic environment, although profits met expectations, market concerns over future guidance led to stock volatility.
- Guidance Adjustment: Chewy lowered its FY26 sales outlook to a range of $13.4B to $13.55B from the previous $13.6B to $13.75B, reflecting CEO concerns about stretched consumer spending, which may impact future performance.
- Market Share Gains: Despite a decelerating industry, Chewy continues to gain market share, benefiting from a favorable category mix, growth in sponsored ads, and improved operational efficiencies, showcasing the company's competitive edge.
- Valuation Appeal: With a 6% drop in share price on Thursday, Chewy's valuation has become more attractive, even as the stock has lost 56% year-to-date, analysts believe that improving fundamentals are not yet reflected in the current valuation.
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- Earnings Highlights: Chewy reported fiscal Q1 2026 net sales of $3.36 billion, a 7.7% year-over-year increase, with net income rising to $94.8 million, up 52% from last year, indicating improvements in revenue and margins.
- Market Reaction: Despite strong earnings, Chewy's stock fell 4.75% post-report due to cautious guidance on future sales, leading to a 43% decline this year, reflecting market concerns over macroeconomic pressures.
- Analyst Rating Adjustments: Several analysts have lowered their price targets for Chewy, with Morgan Stanley reducing its target from $43 to $42, highlighting economic concerns, while Bank of America maintained a 'Buy' rating but cut its target to $31, indicating weakened market confidence.
- Future Outlook: Chewy projects full-year sales between $13.4 billion and $13.55 billion, with growth rates of 6.3% to 7.5%, but anticipates customer additions at the lower end of previous estimates, suggesting challenges in customer acquisition that may impact future growth potential.
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- Customer Acquisition Warning: Chewy's management has indicated that net customer additions for the year will be at the lower end of the 150,000 to 250,000 range, reflecting a conservative outlook on the consumer environment, which could hinder future sales growth and market share.
- Financial Performance vs. Market Reaction: Despite reporting quarterly net sales of $3.36 billion, a 7.7% increase year-over-year, and net income rising from $62.4 million to $94.8 million, Chewy's stock price has declined due to uncertainty about future growth, indicating market concerns.
- Analyst Downgrades: Several analysts have lowered their price targets for Chewy, with Morgan Stanley reducing its target from $43 to $42 due to worries about the macroeconomic environment, while Bank of America cut its target from $33 to $31, reflecting a lack of market confidence.
- Strategic Investments and Challenges: Chewy plans to operate 60 veterinary clinics by year-end and leverage artificial intelligence to save at least $50 million in costs; however, management warns that inflation and rising interest rates will continue to squeeze potential customers' budgets, impacting business growth.
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- Performance Growth: Chewy's Q1 net sales increased by 7.7% year-over-year to $3.36 billion, exceeding expectations by $10 million, demonstrating the company's resilience and management execution amid economic challenges.
- Customer Growth: The company added nearly 200,000 new customers, with a 2.4% increase in net sales per active customer and a 10.5% rise in autoship customer sales, further strengthening its market position.
- Profitability Improvement: Adjusted earnings per share reached $0.43, up 23% year-over-year, indicating that effective cost management enabled the company to achieve a gross margin exceeding 30%, an improvement of 50 basis points from the previous year.
- Sales Outlook Downgrade: Despite a strong Q1 performance, Chewy lowered its full-year sales outlook, now expecting FY26 sales to range between $13.4 billion and $13.55 billion, below previous estimates, reflecting uncertainty about future market conditions.
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